Dogs ..dont you just love 'em!

[KICKSTART]

I woke up to xmas early this morning! Lots of beautiful 'snow' all over my bedroom!!! Yes my youngest dog had found his way into his duvet cover and shredded the duvet inside !! (pampered pooches , all have a duvet each to sleep on) So i have spent most of the morning cleaning up and i still keep finding bits of snow .. anyone else got naughty pooches ? 

[Deanne]

Give your dogs a Beanie Baby! I swear those beans reproduce wildly when released from captivity. My two ganged up. One dog  chewed a hole through it. The other dog took over from there and ran around the room shaking it. I vacuumed beans up for months!

[Sunny]

Periodically I give my black lab mix (rescued from an animal shelter), a stuffed animal. She always chews it open and pulls out all the stuffing. She is left with the deflated stuffed toy and will spend months carrying it around in this condition. Then I will get her a new one, and the cycle starts all over again. It used to bother me, until I realized she was still having fun with the remnants. Her latest is a deflated Eagle.

[thegrammalady]

i used to have a samoyed who chewed on matchbook covers. she would fold back the cover, exposing the matches. hold it between her paws and pull the matches out with her teeth, placing them in a nice neat little pile. then, proceed to chew on the cover. it was rather funny and for the longest time i had no idea how she made those nice neat little piles of matches.

[willieandwinnie]

Our 2 yorkies have this habit of going to the front storm door and turning butt to butt and throwing their heads back howling. The neighbors must think we are killing them. Funniest thing the listen to.

willieandwinnie

[paddbear0000]

My lab ate through a wall once. My beagle ate a solar pool cover (my mother was not happy--it was expensive!). And my Mom's lab/chow brings his treasures, dead animals, in through the doggie door! He's brought rabbits, squirrels, mice, birds, chipmunks and even a ground hog! The lab, and our lab/pit both love to chew rocks and (try to) bring them, as well as large tree branches into the house! My Mom has an above ground pool, and the lab keeps trying to jump in it from the ground. It's hilariuos in the winter. He ends up on top of the pool cover with a really confused look on his face!     <-- kind of like that!   

Oh yeah, and all the dogs love "killing" their stuffed toys and pulling the stuffing out. Zoe eats every bed I buy her, including the stuffing. We're on bed #3 just in the last month.

[okarol]

My friend Claire and her husband Bob went out one evening and as usual, left their lab Shilo indoors so she wouldn't be lonely, start barking and disturb the neighbors. When they returned home a few hours later they opened the front door and water came rushing out! They could hear their Shilo yelping and crying and for a minute thought perhaps someone had broken into the house, the dog was so upset. Bob found her in the powder room, door shut. Water was spraying all over the room and Shilo was soaked to the bone. After turning off the water to the house they were able to piece together what had happened. Apparently Claire had forgotten to put away a bowl of M&M's that was on the coffee table. Shilo got up on the table, knocked it over and ate all the M&M's. Then she must have been thirsty so she went into the powder room to drink from the toilet, and somehow squeezing in there she shut the door behind her. This must have freaked her out because she pawed and pawed on the door, and at some point gave up on it and began to paw her way through the wall, beside the toilet. Shilo managed to break the turn off valve for the toilet and water sprayed out. It filled the bathroom, hallway, living room and part of the dining room. All their hardwood floors were damaged. After contacting their insurance company they had to hire one of those water damage companies to come set up fans, open the wallboards and vacuum out as much water as they could (fear of mold is a big deal here.) They had to stay at a hotel for a couple of days because these huge fans are loud, going 24 hours a day. All this because they love Shilo and are considerate of their neighbors!

[goofynina]

When we adopted our Boston Terrier, he was awesome, great dog UNTIL, i left him alone, i adopted him from PetsMart and they said he came from a Happy Home, so i figured he would be safe to leave inside while i went shopping, WRONG!!!  When we got home and walked through the front door, my house looked like a winter wonderland, he ripped open the sofa and had a field day with the stuffing, whew, was Sam mad, lol, he also ripped a giant whole in our Burbur carpet (we were renting from my sister) so we had to fix that A.S.A.P.  Damn dog, lol, that was one expensive lesson i learned and Sniper got to stay outside when we were gone 

[angela515]

I don't got no story's yet, but I am learning ALOT from everyone else's!! 

[Falkenbach]

Oh, thanks Okarol, your story about Shilo reminded me..... I've got a FANTASTIC story that starts off in a similar way, but I did not write it, and although it's about a bull terrier, it's not about one of mine. But it is SO FUNNY it will have you in stitches so here we go:

COSMO

I am finally going to write this saga, but only after the naggings of my B.T. Mentoress Linda Lethin. When
she heard this story she insisted I tell all you guys on the list. But first..... I must warn you..... I't's graphic, .......It's Ugly.......But, It's also True... No names have been changed to protect the innocent.

I have had Bullies for nearly twelve years. I had had no major incidents prior to this. I attribute this to my professional training. I have been a police officer for 17 years. During my jail tours I developed
skills in the handling the unhandlable; such as serial killers; Randy Kraft, Charles Bonin, and even Richard
Ramirez (The Night Stalker ) So with the experience I gained in keeping these guys under control, I have
always done the same with my Bullies. Never an escape nor a major destruction of property.

Then came the new dog... Kingsmere Casanova...AKA Cosmo. He is a maniac. The wildest, most huckle-
butting dog I've ever owned.

It happened a few months ago when Cosmo was about 6 months old. I woke up that morning feeling down,
but being the dedicated employee I am, I went to work anyway. (I hate using my sick time when I'm
sick!) When I got home I was looking forward to going straight to bed, as by now I had a fever and
body aches. But, to my dismay I had forgotten my daughter's Softball practice. I could not press my
wife Laurie into taking her because she was already taking my son to ice hockey practice.

So I left home with my daughter and returned some two and a half hours later. The first clue something
was wrong appeared when I opened the garage door. The garage was flooded. "WHERE DID THAT WATER COME FROM?," I asked my daughter.

I walked to door leading to the house from and garage and opened it. I heard the sound of running water
coming from my daughter's room. WHAT IN THE HELL, I thought. I lurched into my daughter's room, and was
met by the sound of water squishing in the rug under my feet. I peered around the corner, to her 85 gallon
aquarium which houses rare and exotic Rift Valley African Cichlids from Lake Tanganyika, ( and Yes - of
course... expensive) the tank was nearly empty. The water had all escaped, wet the rug and seeped out
through the drywall into the garage. MY GOD, MY GOD, I yelled, MY FISH! My daughter followed me as I went
to open the equipment cabinet under the aquarium to see what kind of mechanical defect caused this tragedy.
I OPENED THE CABINET DOOR, AND TO MY DISBELIEF THERE WAS COSMO INSIDE THE CABINET, he had the aquarium water out-flow hose in his mouth, the last few ounces of water drinking from it, as he shook it like a madman.

He looked up at me, with a look of surreal satisfaction. His little, black, beady eyes glinting in the dark
cabinet. He had a strange look , almost a smile on his face. A million thoughts ran through my head. .....
How did a dog get inside a closed aquarium equipment cabinet, how did he get inside the house...

It did not take me long to place the blame.... ON MY WIFE! She had forgotten to put Cosmo away when she left for hockey.

I picked Cosmo up, and walked him to his crate, my feet squishing in the soaked carpet. As I walked I
surveyed the destruction. He had been in the house over two hours, by himself.

He had systematically clipped all the electrical cords from their plugs, leaving the plugs sticking
out of their outlets with little piggie tails. Why he didn't get electrocuted, I don't know.

Cosmo also chewed up my son's brand new hockey helmet, and in an attempt to get a toy out from under
our couch, he ripped most of the fabric off the lower portion of the sofa.

He emptied the kitchen trash can and had strewn the trash throughout the house.

But the Coup De Grace, The Piece de Resistance, That little touch that only the evil mind of a pigdog
could think of, hit me last, and sent me over the edge.

As I walked through my bed room I began to smell something, and notice stains on my walls, leading
from my bathroom to my bedroom, through the hallway and into the kitchen. I entered the bathroom and the
full realization sank in....... One of my children, one of my precious, lovely children, whom I love...
But who had the bad habit of not flushing the toilet, had gone "NUMBER TWO" (defecated / had a bowel movement - for our international fans not familiar with American colloquialisms) and did not finish the job by flushing, nor were they troubled by closing the lid.

Cosmo had found this interesting object floating in the John, and plucked it out. He then ran hucklebutt
through the house, throwing it in the air as he did, as evidenced by the streaks on the wall.

That was it, I lost it..... Just as my wife came home. I began to cus and couldn't stop. I never yell and was
now doing so at the top of my lungs.

My neighbors came out in dismay...... I finallycalmed down, nearly cried, mentally and physically
wrecked, and spent the next four hours cleaning the mess up. A professional rug cleaner was called (Extra
$$$ for late night emergency), and my children forced to clean the "art work" off the walls.

Late that night after I had fallen asleep, I awoke with a start, I had a sudden realization of what that
mysterious look on Cosmo's face was when he was in theaquarium cabinet...............

IT WAS A SHIT EATING GRIN.

But, I still love my Bullies.......

(I would credit the author but I can't recall his name).

[paddbear0000]

My friend Claire and her husband Bob went out one evening and as usual, left their lab Shilo indoors so she wouldn't be lonely, start barking and disturb the neighbors. When they returned home a few hours later they opened the front door and water came rushing out! They could hear their Shilo yelping and crying and for a minute thought perhaps someone had broken into the house, the dog was so upset. Bob found her in the powder room, door shut. Water was spraying all over the room and Shilo was soaked to the bone. After turning off the water to the house they were able to piece together what had happened. Apparently Claire had forgotten to put away a bowl of M&M's that was on the coffee table. Shilo got up on the table, knocked it over and ate all the M&M's. Then she must have been thirsty so she went into the powder room to drink from the toilet, and somehow squeezing in there she shut the door behind her. This must have freaked her out because she pawed and pawed on the door, and at some point gave up on it and began to paw her way through the wall, beside the toilet. Shilo managed to break the turn off valve for the toilet and water sprayed out. It filled the bathroom, hallway, living room and part of the dining room. All their hardwood floors were damaged. After contacting their insurance company they had to hire one of those water damage companies to come set up fans, open the wallboards and vacuum out as much water as they could (fear of mold is a big deal here.) They had to stay at a hotel for a couple of days because these huge fans are loud, going 24 hours a day. All this because they love Shilo and are considerate of their neighbors!

    Labs are trouble aren't they?! But ya gotta love 'em!

[paddbear0000]

Late that night after I had fallen asleep, I awoke with a start, I had a sudden realization of what that
mysterious look on Cosmo's face was when he was in theaquarium cabinet...............

IT WAS A SHIT EATING GRIN.

    OMG! I have never laughed so hard in my life!   

[Deanne]

These really put things in perspective. I think I get off very easy with my ball-obsessed dachshund and leg-lifting yorkie. It's easy to pen the yorkie when I'm not home and keep a belly band on him when I am.  And if all I need to do for the dachshund is throw a ball for a couple hours a day, well, that's fine -- her most destructive act was to chew the cord off my vacuum.

[Falkenbach]

Oh I have another bully story, also written by someone else, which will make you laugh just as hard. Knowing bullies as well as I do, it makes me hysterical every time I read it - I never tire of it:

 

Are Bull Terriers Good With Children
by Peggy Arnaud

Haven't we all been asked this question many times? Yes, if raised with children, a bull terrier is a perfect companion; gentle and aware of the child's fragility. Haven't we all watched a great lump of dog play quietly on the floor with babies, then without warning hurl itself upon an unsuspecting adult with sufficient force to practically land him in the intensive care unit. So I would like to ask this question - Are Bull Terriers Good With Adults? Not one of my dogs has ever laid a tooth on me, but the damage to my person has, over the years been considerable.

One rainy morning I was standing in the driveway watching my husband back out the car when Muffin came flat out around the corner of the house carrying a length of 2 x 4. What she was intending to do with this piece of lumber has never been determined - it is possible that she was becoming bored with the demolition trade and was about to enter the construction business. Turning at her approach, I received the full impact of the wood on my shinbone and was knocked to the ground by the force where I lay screaming with pain and fury. Muff observed this odd behaviour for a moment, then deciding that she had heard all those words before (usually directed at her anyway), she retrieved her wooden weapon, and spinning it around with the grace and agility of a baton twirler, connected neatly with the back of my head as I was attempting to get to my feet. The impact returned me to my previous horizontal position, this time face down. My husband, who witnessed the entire performance informed me later that the timing was superb - worthy of the best Keystone Cops or Marx Brothers. But he delayed his departure, herded the menace into her kennel and inquired through his merriment if I was hurt. Stating I thought I might live long enough to murder the wretched bitch, I was helped to my feet but found I could not put any weight on the injured leg and my scalp was cut and bleeding - so a trip to the accident room of the local hospital was thought advisable.

Being my first visit for emergency treatment, I was not prepared for the volume of information required. Name, address, occupation are routine - but how, when and why!....(I am an obstetrical nurse and our patients are admitted onto the floor with a minimum of questions. We know why they are there, and we know how it happened and we assume the patient knows too, although sometimes one wonders)!

The admitting nurse was efficient and thorough. Vital statistics dealt with came unexpected questions. "Now, how did this accident happen?" "Well," I said, "You see my dog had this big piece of wood in her mouth and she hit me with it."

"Your dog?" "Yes." "I see, - and the head wound?" "Well my dog did that too." "With a piece of wood?" "Yes, - it was the same piece of wood actually." "I see."

"Well," I said, coming quickly to Muffin's defence," of course she didn't mean to, she sort of spun around and she had this piece of wood in her mouth, you see - and, well-she hit me with it - I was sitting in the driveway at the time..."

Our local hospital does not have a psychiatric floor but I could see by the expression on the nurse's face that she was aware of the desperate need for one.

I was X-Rayed, treated amid controlled giggles from the staff, and released.

The next major incident followed swiftly. (Minor ones occur almost daily.) The paddock gate is, of necessity, sturdily built of oak and heavy. It opens inward. Every day I collect each dog after his play period.

I call them from whatever act of mayhem they may be committing, push open the gate and bend down ready to snap on the lead. For three hundred and sixty four days of the year Bloody Mary had galloped to the gate, come around it, and been leashed in the usual fashion. On this particular day,
whether due to a whim, or perhaps because the moon was in Aquarius she chose to project herself at approximately the speed of light from the far corner of the paddock, and instead of coming around the gate, she leapt at it with all the force of her fifty pounds of muscle, slamming it shut on my head. I
went down like a pole-axed ox, and remained down and out long enough for the murdureous beast to remove and eat the bait-biscuits from my pocket - she also removed and apparently ate the pocket. A small hairpiece I was wearing has never been seen again - presumably it was quickly killed and buried. Staggering into a lawn chair I sat holding my head and considering an early retirement from dog breeding, while Mary amused herself by eating the geraniums.

This pastoral scene continued for awhile until my neighbor drove up, took one look at me, and insisted - yes, you guessed it - on a trip to the Emergency Room.

The last thing I wished to do on this earth was return to the hospital where, after the Muffin episode, there exists some doubt as to my sanity - I am known locally as "that kook who lives up on the hill with those funny looking white things she says are dogs". But feeling too sick to argue or resist I was firmly placed in the car and hurried off to my fate.

And so it came to pass that once again I presented myself at the local Emergency Room. Of course, the admitting nurse was the same as before, the staff also. Approaching the desk in embarrassed misery - torn clothing, wild hair, a great lump on my forehead and eyes blackening fast, I am greeted by an obviously wary nurse - "Goodness, Mrs Arnaud, sit down. Whatever happened to you now?" I take a deep breath, (Oh God will get you for this Bloody Mary) and with visions of padded cells looming large in my future, "Well," I said "you see - my dog..."

Are Bull Terriers Good With Children?
Oh yes. They are lovely.
Are Bull Terriers Good With Adults?

Well I am an adult and they are not good with me, and I have the scars - my body, my furniture, and my psyche - to prove it.
(Acknowledgement COLKET - 1976)

[skyedogrocks]

Periodically I give my black lab mix (rescued from an animal shelter), a stuffed animal. She always chews it open and pulls out all the stuffing. She is left with the deflated stuffed toy and will spend months carrying it around in this condition. Then I will get her a new one, and the cycle starts all over again. It used to bother me, until I realized she was still having fun with the remnants. Her latest is a deflated Eagle.

My Pointer does the same exact thing.  All you see is his head madly bobbing as he pulls the stuffing out.  The deflated toy is so gross looking after a week, but he loves them!  His latest is a deflated rat.

My lab is the exact opposite, she can keep her toys for years without destroying them.  The only thing that doesn't work is the squeakie.

Both dogs love extra loud squeakies in their toys.  The louder the better.   

[paddbear0000]

Periodically I give my black lab mix (rescued from an animal shelter), a stuffed animal. She always chews it open and pulls out all the stuffing. She is left with the deflated stuffed toy and will spend months carrying it around in this condition. Then I will get her a new one, and the cycle starts all over again. It used to bother me, until I realized she was still having fun with the remnants. Her latest is a deflated Eagle.

My Pointer does the same exact thing.  All you see is his head madly bobbing as he pulls the stuffing out.  The deflated toy is so gross looking after a week, but he loves them!  His latest is a deflated rat.

My lab is the exact opposite, she can keep her toys for years without destroying them.  The only thing that doesn't work is the squeakie.

Both dogs love extra loud squeakies in their toys.  The louder the better.   

"Yum! Squeakers!" <--Zoe, the dog speaking   

[pelagia]

I thought I'd go ahead and introduce our dog Ben (and bump up this thread ).  We adopted him when he was about a year old.  We don't know the whole story of how he lost his front leg.  When he was dropped off at the animal shelter by an unknown person, he had all four legs, but a front one had clearly been injured in an accident of some sort.  The wound had healed, but the leg had permanent nerve damage and was dragging.  My co-worker's wife worked at the shelter and decided to adopt the him.  She named him Ben.  Two different vets recommended that she have the leg amputated.  She did and then brought him home -- and then discovered she was allergic to him!

A mutual friend knew that our lab had died not long before.  Even though we were planning to wait before getting another dog, there was no hope for us when she sent Ben's photo and story to me in an e-mail. 

It was our good fortune because he is an incredibly friendly, loving and loyal dog.  When he runs you would never know that he has three legs.  He's fast.  He goes up and down the steep stairs in our house with ease.  And last summer he hiked 30 miles over 5 days with my husband and son on the Appalachian Trail.

[monrein]

He's a gorgeous pooch Linda, and he looks SO lovable and loving.

[okarol]

Handsome guy, Ben.

[rose1999]

What a gorgeous dog and a lovely ending to an awful start for him. So glad he has you to love him 

[twirl]

he should be on that talented dog show
he would outshine all those other dogs
and he is a beauty
our cow dog, yogi. protects Trasie ( almost 2) in our pool
Trasie likes to sit on the steps - Yogi positions himself between her and the rest of the pool
when she is in the pool, he stays in the water and will swim around her
we have to put a muzzle on him b/c he trys to pull her
he protects us also but not the way he does our baby
if she walks over to the pool he gets between her and the pool and howls to let us know
of course, she is never out there without us

[peleroja]

To answer your title, nope, can't stand dogs.  It seems just about everyone in this tract has at least one dog, and not one dog has ever been disciplined.  They bark constantly.  Pain in the . . . eardrums.  Y'all thought I was gonna say something else, didn't ya?

[twirl]

are you a horse person?

[pelagia]

To answer your title, nope, can't stand dogs.  It seems just about everyone in this tract has at least one dog, and not one dog has ever been disciplined.  They bark constantly.  Pain in the . . . eardrums.  Y'all thought I was gonna say something else, didn't ya?

We've had a number of wonderful dogs and a couple that were not so wonderful.  One we adopted about a decade ago was almost feral and almost caused a divorce in our house!  Still she was not a barker.  Dogs that bark all the time have a message.  Problem is, no one is listening to the message, just to the barking!  In 30+ years I have never had a problem with my dogs barking in an inappropriate way.

our cow dog, yogi. protects Trasie ( almost 2) in our pool
Trasie likes to sit on the steps - Yogi positions himself between her and the rest of the pool
when she is in the pool, he stays in the water and will swim around her
we have to put a muzzle on him b/c he trys to pull her
he protects us also but not the way he does our baby
if she walks over to the pool he gets between her and the pool and howls to let us know
of course, she is never out there without us

It's amazing to me how a dog can know when someone is vulnerable or needs protecting.

When my husband hiked the AT, he really shouldn't have been there.  His kidney function was below 15%.  My son and nephew, who was also with them, would hike far ahead, out of my husband's sight (thanks guys...).  It was August and incredibly hot.  Stephen had to take it slow and more than a few times I know he worried that he couldn't do it.  He told me that Ben would walk a bit ahead of him most of the time, but would never let him fall behind out of sight.  If Stephen slowed down, Ben woud lie down on the trail until Stephen caught up to him.  The dog never had a leash on during the entire week.  How do they know the need? 

[flip]

Cujo is busy working on his speech for the Chicago meeting. Don't believe a word he says.